The matter of the promised U.S. strategic cryptocurrency reserve has been a much-discussed topic and, after something of a hiatus, is once again becoming consequential in early March.
Specifically, after a long wait following President Donald Trump’s inauguration, which involved some lukewarm, preparatory orders, the commander-in-chief announced an actual cryptocurrency reserve on Sunday, March 2.
The U.S. will be holding a strategic national supply of a selection of digital assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP, Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA), according to the Truth Social post
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Are the U.S. government wallets buying crypto in March?
Despite the announcement, America’s known cryptocurrency wallets are yet to see a significant move.
Once the March 3 holdings of the address are compared with the balance from January 20, it quickly becomes apparent that the number of coins and tokens has yet to change significantly.
For example, on the day of Trump’s inauguration, the U.S. held just over 198,000 BTC, and the number is almost exactly the same at press time, according to the data Finbold retrieved from blockchain intelligence platform Arkham.
Furthermore, most digital assets set for inclusion in the reserve are absent from the wallet.
Still, one exception to the rules comes in the form of Ethereum, and the government’s holdings of the cryptocurrency increased by just under 1,300 tokens from about 45,750 to approximately 56,030.
Simultaneously, the lack of meaningful change does not mean the government hasn’t been buying as it is possible some of its addresses have not yet been properly catalogued. On the flip side, there are no guarantees that any buying activity has taken place.
What is certain, however, is that the market had a strong and positive reaction to the weekend development. For example, cryptocurrencies added more than $220 billion to their cumulative valuation since the announcement was made.
Individual digital assets also reacted strongly, with BTC rising 9.43% in the last 24 hours from about $85,000 to its press time price of $93,670 and XRP surging 19.95% from $2.23 to $2.70 within the same time frame.
Finally, despite the upswing, the road ahead could feature additional corrections depending on the actual creation of the reserve and its ultimate assets, given that a debate on whether including digital assets other than Bitcoin is a mistake emerged swiftly.
Featured image via Shutterstock
